DA concerned by steep prices for guns in suspicious tender

Expensive pistols and rifles are usually used in competitions and not crime prevention, according to experts.

This after the DA asked the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate a suspicious firearm tender that cost the Gauteng department of community safety almost R78 000 per pistol.

Price of guns makes no sense

Rural criminologist, Dr Witness Maluleka said the complaint was a common practice, adding that the public sector was often targeted by tenderpreneurs price hiking… doubling prices is used to get rich quickly.

“This is highly organised, involving kickbacks. The case in question should be investigated. This practice should be rooted out and largely exposed,” he said.

Maluleka said SA could not afford to be careless as the present situation could lead to uncontrollable corruption.

South African Gunowners’ Association’s Damian Enslin said Beretta or Glock guns cost anything between R12 000 and R20 000 for a standard pistol that was even used by the FBI and US police.

Enslin said if they spent about R20 000 per pistol it would have made sense.

“If it’s good enough for the FBI it should be good enough for us, too,” he said.

Enslin said semiautomatic rifles were priced between R20 000 and R40 000 without the scopes and added that the expensive pistols and rifles were usually used in competitions and not crime prevention.

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DA opens case against department of community safety

The DA shadow MEC for community safety, Crezane Bosch and the party’s spokesperson for community safety, Michael Sun, went to the SIU to open a case against the Gauteng department of community safety.

Bosch described the tender as suspicious, saying it seemed irregular.

“This tender included the procurement of 124 pistols for a staggering amount of R9.4 million, which averages to R78 000 per pistol. Research has indicated that police Beretta, Sig Sauer, and Glock 9mm pistols usually range from R8 000 to R20 000 per pistol.

“That means there’s a R58 000 overspent on a pistol. Bosch said they wanted transparency regarding the tender, who it was awarded to, what the specs were and the pistols bought at that price.

“We are not just concerned about the irregular and wasteful expenditure. Gauteng only has 143 police stations looking after 16 million people.

“These stations are generally severely under-resourced. They don’t have sufficient vehicles or manpower.”

Bosch said police stations should be multiplied to at least one per ward.

“Why do we spent money on pistols like this, only 124 pistols being bought, instead of focussing on getting safety gear for the patrollers of the CPF to help them with the patrols and keep the community safe,” she said.

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